DESERT CAMPFIRES

As our time winds down, we notice that we still had a lot of wood to burn and in a short time.  Our only obstacle to nightly fire is-wind.

If the winds kick up more than 10mph, then it’s a safe bet that you won’t be burning.  In some areas 10mph don’t seem like a strong wind, but out here in the desert, you have no way of  blocking.  So therefore, 10mph will seem like 20+mph. 

In the desert, you don’t have the rain and humidity like you do in other areas of the country, so everything is dry and with very little moisture to stop a spark it wouldn’t take much to  create an out of control fire.

Out here in the desert there is plenty of Iron Wood, Palo Verdes, creosol bushes, along with varies cactus that have died.  Although the wood is dead, we cannot pick up anything in the desert to burn.  Which means we have to find other sources of bringing in wood for campfires.

There are areas of business that will sell you firewood for a good price.  But for ma ny of us out here, we have learned to go to nearby farming communities and going to the business and picking  up old skids.  Most of the farming is commercial.  The place of business has smarten up to us out here and started to charge for the pallet.  Mainly we could pay anywhere from $1.00-$3.00 per skid; which isn’t a bad price.  However, we have found a few that appreciates us coming and removing their old pallets off their hands.  That way, they don’t have to pay someone to come and remove them.

One in particular is in Blythe, CA.  You just have to have a means to haul them out.  We have met a gentleman that had the truck and trailer and was very willing to take us to go over to Blythe and pick up enough skids to keep us burning for the remainder of our time here.

Now that we have the skids, burning them in whole really isn’t a smart thing to do.  However, we have met some that do, and let me tell you; those skids burned in whole can cause one heck of a fire!  We choose to cut ours up.  Some was done by hand, while the rest was done by a circular saw.

As our pile was getting down and we thought that one or two more fires we would be done, low and behold one of our nearby neighbors left.  Upon investigating their area, we notice they left a very nice pile of seasoned wood from their home state of Colorado.  So naturally, we just couldn’t let it sit there to rot the summer away. 

We thought to ourselves-wow, a real campfire, we for sure will enjoy now!  We only had one obstacle stopping us: that nasty ole’ wind….

Time to take action….We notice that other folks were having campfires, even with the winds we have been having.  So upon seeing what they were doing different, we notice that they built their fire rings high.  So it was time to rebuild ours and make higher sides.  It worked!  So the past several nights we have been enjoying our campfires extremely.  We mix a little of the season wood with our pallet woods and have a wonderful campfire.

GET READY...

As we start counting down the days, we know it's time to start to check things over and prepare for hitting the road.

The first thing is checking all the tire pressures to make sure they are where they should be.  Next thing Brian does is check the air bag in the back of the rig.  You don't want too much or too little and sometimes it's hard to determine how much you need all depends on the load.  Then he checks all the fluids in the engine to make sure they are topped off. 

Now comes the fun stuff; Cleaning out all the compartments.  Brian and I have this agreement: He does all the outdoor compartments, and I do all the indoors-except for his tool box.  We have a rule of thumb that we have used since starting to travel and has worked thus far for us.  It is:  If it's not been used in the last 6 months to a year-it goes.  Except for a few chosen items; like Christmas stuff, and a few electrical appliance like our electric roaster for our turkey to name just a few. This rule also goes for clothing as well. 

When you live in a rig, no matter what size-you have limited space.  We have met folks that are just pack rats and won't give up nothing-even if they never used it!  They don't stop to think not only does it create clutter, but after a while you eventually can become overweight in your rig, which causes lower fuel mileage and then you become not only a road hazard for yourself, but for others as well.

Twice a year, Brian tries his best to wash and wax the rig and now the car.  This year was going to be a bit of a challenge for the motorhome.  The one and only place in Parker that has an RV bay to wash the rig, is down and they were not sure when it would be fix.  So now trying to figure out where we could wash the rig...

We got a nice gentle rain the night before and yesterday morning.  It took off most of the dust and grime, so Brian got out there yesterday and whiped the rig completely down.  Today he was able to actually put a coat of wax and it looks pretty good and ready to roll.  We got the car done in town the other day, so it too is ready to hit the road.

Brian will put a second coat of waxing on the front part of the rig, where the bugs hit the worse.  This really helps in removing them icky bugs off after you get parked again.  If you get it right away, all you need to due is take a garden hose and spray it off.  Or take a  little gentle soap and hot water, and gently rub and the bugs come right off.



Next step is: Set....That's for the next Blog

Water Supply

Yesterday was time for our weekly bathing....
Okay, just kidding, we do bathe more often than once a week.  Anyways, boon-docking and not moving the rig, requires a bit of work to be done.  Meaning-since you don't move your rig to get water, you have to bring water to your rig.  Here is how we do it:

Some folks uses varies sizes and types of barrels, water jugs, and water bladders to haul water back to their rigs.  We choose to use 7 gallon water jugs to haul water back into our rig.  We find this is more convenient and easy for us.

We just can't "poor" the water in like some RV'ers, our water system is pressurized.  We also have to use a water pump to get the water to flow into our tank.

So before we are ready to get showers or if we need extra water put into our holding tank here is what we have to do:
 Brian first has to hook the first hose from the jug to the water pump and open the valve.  the second hose also hooks from the out on the pump and then into to the RV water fill connector.

Then when he is already, he just simply plugs the electrical connection to the cigarette plug in the car.

Now he has to watch it carefully as to not to run dry.  If the jug gets low he always makes sure that he has another 7 gallon ready to go and usually poors it in the one jug while the pump is running.  (as you see him doing in the upper picture).

Now we learned a great little secret.  One day he had an extra 7 gal of water and couldn't put anymore into our RV.  So he left the hook-up to the 7 gallons.  He thought that would be plenty of water for me to shower.  We discovered that we don't get the "surging" that you get from you in-house water pump, the temp is more stable, so no quick hot or cold water while showering.  AND we both can shower with 7 gallons of water!  So now when it's time to get rid of the stink on our bodies, Brian hooks the water pump up to the 7 gallon jug and we are all set to go.

Brian also forgot one time to open the valve on the jug.  We were lucky not to burn up the water pump.  By the time I got out, and he got in, he told me that he might have forgotten the valve.  I went out to check and sure enough the jug was almost sucked inwards!  No damage that time, so he's more cautious now.

So now if you are ever boon-docking, this will help you to bring in fresh water into your tank without having to move your RV!



Leah & Vet

Living on the road like we do, one of the inconvenience we sometimes come across is locating veterinarian for our little dog, Leah.  It’s not really hard to find one, but to find the “right:” one can be the challenge.
When it comes time to finding one, we simply look in a phone book or go to the yellow pages on the Internet to locate one.  We will write down several and then call to find out their prices and scheduling.  We kind of go by how they sound on the phone as to whether or not we will take our pet to them.
It was different this year for us, we got use to and very familiar to the Vet up in Mountain Home AR.  Presley’s Veterinarian (Dr. Siedel) was gentle, kind and a very caring vet for animals and to their owners.  Even his workers were fantastic.  They were there when ever we needed advise or to answer any questions we might had.  Those that know our little dog, knows she has given us  few grey hairs and shed some of her 9 lives.  Even the crew at Presley’s was waiting to see what mischief Leah could find herself in. 
Being that this year we will not be anywhere near Mountain Home, it was time to find that Vet once again for Leah’s annual check-up and shots.  We did call around to areas in Blythe, Parker and even to the one here in Quartzsite.  Although they were to the point and very direct when calling, they were the cheapest and didn’t do a lot of unnecessary test that some vets seem to want to push in doing (like cleaning of teeth), so we did choose Quartzsite Animal clinic.
We both agreed that once walking into the clinic and upon meeting the vet, would determine if we walked out or stayed and let him give her her shots.  The verdict is:
The receptionist, which we assume might have been vet’s wife, was friendly and very courteous and chatted with us while we waited our turn.  The vet  himself, wasn’t very talkative and was very business like.  Most vet’s we have gone to allowed us to hold our dogs while given their exams or shots, this one kept demanding that we keep all four of  her feet on the table. 
His examining room desire maybe a little straightening and organization, but the exam table seemed to been cleaned and disinfected (or we least hope so). 
He did however, listen to her lungs, took her temp, checked her teeth and ears.  Called her a “wiggle butt”; which she was and that didn’t bother us, we thought that maybe we would see a little humor finally come out of him.   Leah did manage to wiggle so much that her first shot ended up all over Brian’s hand and not hitting the prime target-Leah….He was actually gentle on her when it came for him to give her shots. 
Leah must not have thought to bad of him either, she didn’t even make an attempt to bite him!  She has only bitten one, okay two vets.  The first one, he deserved in my opinion.  and the second time was poor Doctor Siedel, when she was sick, so I guess she had an excuse that time.
One of the things that really made me think better of this vet is he is the only one that I have ever heard that will help someone with a sick animal that can’t pay.  Oh, they don’t let them leave without something.  They ask if the owner has anything of value to put towards the bill until they can come up with the money.  The receptionist told us about a kid bringing in his sick dog last week and had no money, but had a violin.  So they are hanging onto his instrument until he can get cash.  I guess over the years they have accumulated jewelry and electronic gadgets just to name a few things.  Some folks have come back with money, others have not.  Too me that says a lot about a business owner and that will make me want to continue doing business with them.  You don’t come across to many people like that anymore, so I would rather patronize and help them out, if they are willing to help another poor soul out.
Will we go back there again?  yes; but only for her annual check-up and shots.  He takes no appointments and he does not do emergency calls after hours.  And most of Leah’s “emergencies” has always been-after hours.
After her shots-poor girl:                                                                                                Leah Kay-3 years old and spoiled rotten….

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Leah & Lizards!

As it's starting to warm up, Leah is wanting to be outdoors more and more.  She is constantly on the look-out for anything that moves in the desert.  Around here, there are plenty of little lizards.  There are a few that I believe will sit on our wood pile, stick out their tongue and if I didn't know better, was laughing at her!



She gets so upset that she can't get to them.  We are surprise that she hasn't broken her collar, for the way she keeps pulling and tugging.  She has managed to get underneath our car, and when she comes out, she don't look like our little min pin!

One thing is for sure; she sleeps good at night and I never have to trim her claws!

I would hate to know what would happen if she were to ever catch one of those small creatures....I think they both would loose-Leah getting sick, and the Lizard loosing his life.

We haven't seen all but one snake since warming up.  I checked on the Internet of the specie of the snake and he was just a harmless desert snake.  It's a bit early for them yet, although with the warmer temps, I do look for them to come out more.  

Quartzsite AZ

Quartzsite is nestled in western AZ just about 17 miles from the California border. Highway 95 runs north and south while I-10 runs east to west through the town. During the hot summer months Quartzsite is a quiet sleepy little town with not much going for it. I think if it wasn’t for a few major truck stops and some fast food restaurant, Quartzsite would not exist during summer months.
As Fall time rolls around, Quartzsite slowly starts to come alive and then by Jan it’s a full blown little city. What attracts people to this area is the dry warm winter that many camp out on the BLM land for a minimal price. There are RV parks around the town that are very reasonable to stay in if you choose not to boondock in the desert.  When we arrived the first part of Nov to Quartzsite for the first time, it was already starting to show signs of folks temporarily staking their claims for the winter months. The BLM land around the sleepy little town was filling in with RV’ers from all over.  They come from the Northern colder states such as Idaho, Washington, Oregon, just to name a few  and of course, Canada.
So besides the warm dry desert winter months, what else attracts folks to this area?   Maybe it’s because of the huge Rock & Mineral Show, or the big RV and Tent show, or the Art & Craft show that follows.  Or just all the junk collectors that are in one area.  Many folks like to come and sell & trade many items.  Who knows what you just might find.  This is all spread out on both sides of the frontage road near Interstate 10.
On the South East Side (of I-10), you have the Rice Ranch.   No, it’s not a rice field, but just the name of the area where vendors set up to sell items. You will find many varies types of vendors selling anything from new to used items.   In this section you may find socks and other particular clothing items.  Maybe you are a biker in need of leather or accessory for you bike.   One one corner you might find someone selling regular speed  bicycles and accessories.  Or you are in need of an RV replacement part or accessories, the I suggest you visit the Gambler and again, no It’s not Kenny Rogers either.  But just the name of a huge outlet that sells anything RV in a huge pole building.
Hungry?  Well you have vendors that will sell you Ice Cream, Home Made Apple Pie (& other pies), breakfast items, along with Indian Bread and tacos.  If that don’t suit your fancy how about a pizza from a fire truck?  Yep, there is one!  It’s two couples, I believe they got the idea from a relative in Las Vegas.  So they purchased a recently retired fire truck  from NJ and turned it into a place to make and sell Pizza.  Of course our curiosity got the best of us, so we had to go and check it out.  What they did is keep the ladder truck in it’s original state, place a temporary shelter around it, and started doing home bake pizza.  Was it good?  You betcha.  I even think they chopped their onions, for it’s not too often you find red onions on a pizza.  Our first trip, they did forget to put my black olives on it, but on our second trip they made sure I had plenty.  The pizza are loaded with whatever topping you would like to put on and at a very reasonable price.  So I suggest if ever there and you see a Pizza hangin’ high in the sky from a ladder truck, go look it up and try it!

On the South West corner starts the Rock & Gem show and then the huge RV tent.  This really doesn’t get going until mid Jan, but other vendors will come in and start selling early.  Here you will find K & B tools; they carry anything you might need such as tools, mini solar panels, solar yard ornaments just to name a few items.  Out here in the desert we see many temporary tarp buildings put up by RV’ers.  This is the number one place to get all you will need to purchase your temporary tarp building!  Once again you will find more clothing and jewelry. 
You will also find a few vendors that will actually sell many outdated grocery items!  Nothing cold, but in boxes and in jars at a very reasonable price.  One vendor comes out here to set up just to sell buffalo sausage and specialty cheeses.  While another will sell specialty beans and nuts.

When you see the huge tents go up (there will be two), one is just full of vendors that sell nothing but Rocks and Gems from all over the world.  I never knew there was so many Rocks, Gems and Minerals that exist until I went to the show to check it out!  I can’t help but wonder if people do buy these things?  But I guess they do, or this show wouldn’t make it otherwise.  The sedond tent that goes up is behind all the other things going on, but trust me, you cannot miss this gigantic tent!  This is the RV show that goes for only one week in Jan.  This tent is filled with vendors of all sort and not just RV.  We found anything from pots & pans, to knives, rugs, ring cleaners, and one guys selling some kind of a unique tiny animal that lives in your pocket!  There were a few campgrounds trying to promote themselves, you also had Land & Leisure as well as Amazon.com.  LED lights are a hot things for several vendors trying to sell the best one on the market.

Thirsty?  You will find a beer garden amongst all the vendors, just follow the sound from the live entertainment and you will find it.  There are other vendors selling a quick meal if you need one.  Only one bad one sticks out in my mind, and that was when he had his food items sitting out along the ledge.  Whether the items were for show or actual sell, I wasn’t sure, but knew it turned me off and we just walked on by and didn’t stop.
Now on the North West corner is where you have the sell and trade vendors.  We call them the junk collectors.  Again you find more shops selling yet more tools and gadgets of all sorts.  We didn’t spend much time over here, for we don’t have room to buy and collect “junk”.  Sorry folks….but hey, if you like that kind of thing, then you will love this area!
The most thing you find around Quartzsite are RV’s!  new or used, 5th wheel, tongue pull, deisel pusher, you name it, it’s here!  Several large dealers come from near and far to try and sell their rigs.  One of the largest is LeMesa RV they have literally taken up the North East corner.  Once they have all their rigs in place inside this huge fenced in yard, then they begin to dish our free, yes, free pancakes everyday, but Sunday!  And if you didn’t get your fill from that, come back at noon and they will feed  you lunch-FREE!  Each day’s menu changes, and you never know what they will serve for lunch.
Each year there has been over two million visitors alone to this sleepy little town of Quartzsite!
All in all I was amazed as to the vendors selling their goods.  I didn’t know the demand for socks was such a huge thing, there were plenty of vendors selling just that-socks.  Tools, tools and more tools, at every corner, someone was selling some sort of tool or another. 
There were plenty of laundry mats around as well, one in particular and probably the most popular is in a pole building right on main street.  In past years, they close down by late April, but they are thinking of keeping it open year round this year.  Although it’s in this pole building, it’s kept very clean and always someone around to help you if you need it.  they also have a little restaurant adjacent to the laundry.
There is a convenient easy in, easy out place to get propane called RV Pit Stop right on Hwy 95 .  Very friendly and courteous.  There are other places to fill propane, but we found this one to always greet us with a smile.
Plenty of places to go and chow down if you don’t want to eat at the shows.  Silly Al’s seems to always carry a full house.  Although we never ate there, we were told the food and spirits are great.  They have Karaoke night, if you like to sing.
Sweet Darlene started out as a vendor at the shows, and now has their own place in town.  the food is excellent anytime you go there.
Quartzsite has a place called the QIA in town where they have plenty of things going on at all time.  They find entertainment, have line dancing, plus many other activities for the winter folks that come here to visit. 
You are sure not to ever get bored while visiting this sleepy little town of Quartzsite…

Blogging

For the past several weeks, or maybe even longer than that; I have contemplated whether or not to blog and then if I do, why? At one point I even started a Blog and then after starting it, I couldn’t help but wonder why am I doing this? Who the heck is going to read my “stuff”? So I deleted everything that I had started with only a few followers; leaving them out there just hangin’….

I constantly still have all these crazy thoughts running around in my head an no place to go with the thoughts; other than to write them down. They are not bad thoughts, but my thoughts….So back to writing the blogs or not to write. I finally decided what have I got to loose? I do enjoy writing things down so there fore I will continue once again and go back to blogging; whether I have one follower, three followers and hundreds-someday my voice may be heard and if not, at least I got them out of my head…(lol)

After having a mild nervous breakdown a few years back and being placed temporarily in a hospital; one of the things that I had to do while hospitalized is write a daily journal beginning with how I was feeling. Then I had to write letters to the person or persons that I might have been angry with or maybe to someone who has hurt me deeply in the past. the letters never were intended to be mailed out to that particular person, but to relieve my mind of the burden that it was causing on me. So I guess in some ways that is what Blogging will do for me; relieve my mind of heavy burdens. Oh, I also keep a very private and personal journal just as well, and that is just for me.

You have to wonder; what burdens can a person carry that is so heavy on their mind? For me, I like to think about what if… or maybe if I could…But knowing that I never will….or maybe I will….

Now there are so many blog web pages out there, heck, I even started one, and didn’t even know that I did it. Then comes along another one that sounds a little better than the other one, and will even pay you if write lots of blogs. Don’t know if that will ever happen to me-but again, who knows….

Now the next question I have; which blog do you go with? Since I don’t know which one is really the best, I have settled on three…why? who knows…just because they are convenient and out there for me. Now I Wonder if anyone will really read them and if they do, will they learn something from my blogs? Well, if they haven’t learned a thing, it’s their loss and my gain, for it’s out of my head and down in black and white. Maybe I can go back someday and read my blogs and either laugh at it, or think wow, did I really do that?

This is not to say that I lead an exciting life, for I probably don’t to some; but for others that don’t have the opportunity to do things that I am able to do, maybe by reading my blogs will give them some hope or dreams of their own.

My dream is to do what I’m doing right now, traveling with a wonderful partner, seeing different parts of the USA, living one day and one moment at a time and hope that others will be able to do the same.

So to all those other Bloggers out there in our crazy world, look out because here I come!

Desert Life-Part Two

I told you in part one, what went on in our first 4 months of boondocking in the Desert. Besides spend all of our money (ha, ha-he, he), we did enjoy being out here in the desert for the winter months. Now mind you, I don’t think I would like to boondock out here come summer time. the heat can get pretty extensive and there are critters constantly roaming the desert in the summer time, that I don’t think that we want to encounter.

Since hitting the road and other than our first winter out, we majorly spent our winter months down in the Valley of Texas; whether it was at Mathis, Corpus Christi, North Padre Island or Mission. This was being our first year away from Texas; okay I forgot, one winter we spent half in Texas and half in Casa Grande AZ. But the year we spent at Casa Grande, we don’t think we gave it a fair chance, for we ended back in Texas again.

Texas winters and Arizona winters are by far different, no comparison-other than they are both warmer than our Northern States that we hail from. Our Texan winters consist of constant humidity; which means wetness all the time. Unpredictable weather changes; meaning one day could be in the 90’s and bam the next day plummets to the 40’s with strong northern winds. Out here in Quartzsite AZ in the middle of the desert, you have no humidity; so you don’t wake up wet and you don’t go bed feeling wet. The sun also is out a lot more here in Arizona.

Down in the valley of Texas around Mission, Donna and so forth, you tend to get a “valley” smell that wasn’t always a pleasant smell to the nostril; but you learned to live with it. Out here in the Desert, you don’t get any nasty smells what-so-ever. After a rain out here in the desert, you get the most refreshing smell from the bushes and scrubs around you that just would make you want to keep taking in deep breaths. Here you don’t see much rain, and when you do, you welcome it to help settle some of the dust and dirt.

The native folks around here are willing to speak English to your face; which you didn’t always get in Texas.

Now it sounds like I’m putting Texas down, no, just stating the facts as they are. However, with that said, I have to admit that I do miss a lot of things in Texas, that you don’t seem to have here in Arizona. The number one is all of the wonderful friends we met while down there. We miss being apart of their winter lives. I miss the great entertainment people we met along the way, the ones that made you laugh and smile (oh, they know who they are). I miss the great Mexican food and cheap drinks. You can find reasonable entertainment on a daily basis and never get bored while in Texas for the winter months. There is always something to do! But I think the thing I miss the most, is the sound of the Gulf waters hitting the sand. I miss walking on the beach, along the waters edge, watching our little dog, Leah go crazy trying her best to “dig” up that sand crab or finding that unique and one of a kind sea shell.

The winter down here in the desert is really a different world and to some folks, they may never like it here. You don’t have the constant activity that you might find in Texas. Living out here, it’s easy to isolate yourself, which a lot of folks have done; such as us for part of it…It’s very peaceful, for the most part with only the sound of the light breeze blowing through or the coyotes howls at nighttime; which can get eerie. Or you can park as close to your neighbor as you want and not isolate yourself, but then you have to listen to their noises (meaning running generators) as well as them listen to yours, and maybe eat more dust because of the constant traffic in and out.

We probably were not as warm as what we had in the past in Texas, some folks even thought that we might had frost. Although it did get a bit chilly around here at night, we never really saw any frost. We did have some good windy days, but so did Texas! Our daytime highs this past winter never reached higher than in the 70’s with most days probably staying in the upper 60’s and nights reaching into the mid to upper 30’s. I know Texas saw lots of warm days; but we never saw ice, like they did in the Valley of Texas. Only once and just recent did we see a dusting of snow on the far edges of the Mountain tops; and with that I had to zoom in on the camera to get a good picture of the mountain.

There is no grass to speak of around here; it’s mostly sand/gravel with lots and lots of rocks of all sizes. Some that will even jump out and trip you if you’re not careful; so walking can be a challenge. You have varies types of cactus around you and a few that you have to be careful not to get too close to; as our pooch did once or twice and she still hasn’t learned her lesson. We don’t have any large trees to speak of, just some Palo Verde (which by the way gets no leaves, but large thorns) and some Iron Wood. The trees that can be spoken of are usually close to the wash basin.

There is so much desert, with lots of surrounding mountains that you can explore and even get lost in, if you wish to. We have walked miles of the desert floor and climbed a few of the mountains. We have gone cross country, not knowing where we would end up at-thank goodness for a GPS system to help us get back home safely again. The winter months are the best time to do all of this, because those nasty critters such as snakes are hibernating and won’t bother you. Now as February has gone and March is here, our weather is turning to warmer days and nights, so therefore our wandering the desert floor will be limited to the roadways for our safety.

So with all that said, I think that next year we will return back here once again to the desert life and living. We are not done exploring the desert floor or we haven’t climbed all the mountains yet….

Moon rising over the mountain

Snow cap mountains

Desert Life-Part One

Wow I can’t believe that it’s been over 4 months now and living in the desert without any hook-ups. Many of our friends have asked varies questions about us living out here with no hook-ups and what’s been like. Maybe I can shed a little light on it.

One thing that sticks in my head the most is that last fall I posted a question on a rv group web site and the question that I asked is: Are we ready? Meaning are we ready for boondocking life. I posted that we had all the accentual means to boondocking; generator and solar panel. One person answered back that they about guaranteed us that within the first few months we would be making changes and that it was a given for the first timers to boondocking. Well, that person was right. Within the very first month we discovered that moving an rv out here in the desert wasn’t the easiest thing to do. so we purchased a car….

Now that we have the car, we still had the problem of bring in fresh water and getting rid of our grey and black water. So the next purchase was buying the Blue Boy. We had intentions of buying what is called a “ water bladder”, but after meeting some people and talking to them about their “water bladder”, we decided against it and just went with several 7 gal. water jugs that has worked out great thus far. We also had to purchase a water pump to pump the fresh water into the rv, because our fill is pressurized.

Now that we own a car, we could carry a canoe on top of the car. That way when we were near any waterways, we could exploring on our own. So we purchased a canoe and all the accessories that was needed.

When we first hit the road, our house batteries we questionable and we went the cheapest route and purchased Wal-Mart batteries. WRONG!! They wouldn’t hold a good charge after the solar charged them. Wal-Mart was great about returning the batteries, however that did mean we had to purchased different and more expensive batteries, and no not from Wal-Mart.

It did get a little chilly here and we still had one more hurdle. Propane only last for so long and then you need to refuel; which means, yes, moving the rv-again. So we purchased two 20lbs propane tanks and the extend-a-stay hoses and connections.

Then we discovered that the Catalytic heater/Wave 3 just didn’t keep us warm enough and the floors were always cold. We were told that the Wave 3 would be the perfect size for our little motorhome. Well guess what? Yep, it didn’t do the job it should have done. So once again, exploring our different options to heaters, we found one that we really liked. The downfall is the size. It’s a little big for our little home, but let me tell you, it sure does the job great! Oh, we ended up with Cozy World Ceramic Heater with two bricks/10,000BTU. And we found the perfect owners to take the Wave 3 off our hands. We posted on several bulletin boards that we had a heater for sale and that it would be perfect for a small truck camper. An elderly couple was looking for a heater, but didn’t want to pay the outlandish price and ours was just what they wanted.

so with all that said, yes, we put out the money this first winter of boondocking, but the way we look at it; we are now set to go!!

Stay tune…..

Part two I will tell you how well we survived otherwise out here in the Desert….